Harlem
One of the largest of New York's neighborhoods, Harlem
is the epicenter of African-American culture in America. Beginning
at 110th Street, it spans most of the area from the East River to
the Hudson River up to 155th Street. There are several smaller neighborhoods
within Harlem that have their own singular feel. Striver's Row,
with its stately and well-kept brownstones, has become a well-to-do
district where homes are selling at prices comparable to those further
south in Manhattan. Hamilton Heights and Sugar Hill, with early
examples of high-rise buildings, classic townhouses and brownstones,
are quiet sections. Morningside Gardens, just below the Heights
and bordering Morningside Park, has classic New York pre-war buildings
with high ceilings and ample closet space. Many lovely brownstones
line the side streets and Manhattan Avenue. This part of Harlem
has become a destination for families and couples looking for the
same kind of space as on the Upper West Side, but for less money.
The Mt. Morris Park Historic District, with its elegant homes, resembles
Gramercy Park. Long the cultural and commercial heart of Harlem
and the New York black community, 125th Street, running from river
to river, is being revitalized. HMV, Modell's, Disney, the Wiz,
Foot Locker and many other major retailers have opened or plan to
open new stores on the street. In the 1800's and early 1900's, many
middle class black families moved to Harlem after the development
of the Tenderloin and Hell's Kitchen areas, where many African-Americans
had settled in the years following the Civil War. The roaring 1920's
and the Harlem Renaissance helped to define the style and grace
of Harlem's middle class and wealthier families, and established
the neighborhood as the foremost center of black American life.
Morningside
Heights
This neighborhood lies sandwiched between Manhattan
Valley to the south and Harlem to the east and north. Running from
110th Street to 123rd Street, from Morningside Park to the Hudson
River, this neighborhood is a center of higher education, home to
Columbia University, Barnard College, Teacher's College, Bank Street
College, Union Theological Seminary, Jewish Theological Seminary,
and the Manhattan School of Music. It's also home to Riverside Church
and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, the world's largest cathedral
and still under construction. Riverside Park along the Hudson River
is one of the most beautiful parks in the city. Near 120th Street,
you can find the Bird Sanctuary, with dozens of native and visiting
species. Morningside Park lies along the eastern edge of the neighborhood.
Grand pre-war buildings enjoy beautiful sunrise views overlooking
Harlem and Queens further east. On clear days airplanes landing
at LaGuardia Airport are visible.
East
Harlem (Spanish Harlem)
To the south and east of Harlem, East Harlem (also
known as Spanish Harlem or El Barrio) is not easily distinguishable
from its larger neighbor. Beginning on East 96th Street, from Fifth
Avenue east to the river, the neighborhood runs north to 125th Street.
It was once a predominantly Italian and Irish neighborhood. Pleasant
Avenue still has some Italian families living there, along with
Rao's, a New York institution and dining destination for the city's
movers and shakers. In the 1920's, Puerto Ricans began to settle
in the neighborhood, becoming the largest ethnic group. Now as the
next immigrant wave settles in, the neighborhood remains heavily
Latino, but with a wider range of nationalities. Mexicans, Ecuadorians,
Colombians and Dominicans have joined the populace, adding their
rich cultures to the mix. El Barrio is also the beginning of Museum
Mile, with the Museo del Barrio, the Museum of the City of New York
and the Central Park Conservatory along Fifth Avenue. Recently,
the late bandleader Tito Puente was memorialized with a section
of East 110th Street renamed after him.
Manhattan
Valley
Occupying the area from West 96th Street
to 110th Street between Central Park West and Broadway, this neighborhood
has a low profile, but it is still one of the city's most desirable.
With its proximity to Columbia University's campus, many of the
university's staff and students make their homes here. The neighborhood
has a rich cultural and architectural history. Now ethnically diverse,
it was long a mainly Latino community and retains much of that flavor
today. The area has several quiet blocks of lovely townhouses and
brownstones just off Central Park. On the corner of West 106th and
Central Park West, a grand old castle-like mansion of rich red stone
has been converted into a bed and breakfast hotel. On Central Park
there are several examples of the diversity and creativity of construction
that marked apartment buildings at the turn of the century. Along
Amsterdam Avenue, there are bars and restaurants that fill with
students and neighborhood residents on weekends. Broadway remains
the shopping hub of the area, with new stores having opened in the
last few years.
Upper
West Side
Covering the large area from West 59th
Street to West 110th Street between Central Park and the Hudson
River, the Upper West Side has long been a bastion of liberal and
progressive politics. In recent years, with the economic boom, the
neighborhood has lost some of that reputation. The Upper West Side
was the first neighborhood in Manhattan to really experience the
apartment building explosion of the late 1800's and early 1900's.
The Dakota, the Apthorp, Bretton Hall, and the Ansonia are all grand,
stately buildings that line Broadway and other avenues. When the
subway was first built up Broadway to 145th street, the throngs
of New Yorkers crowded in below 59th street expanded northward,
and soon the avenues and streets were laid out and filled in with
apartment houses, brownstones and townhouses. Along Riverside Drive,
you can find many mansions and townhouses that were built just before
the turn of the century.
Upper
East Side
The Upper East Side has long been known
as the city's famed 'silk stocking' district. Originating from 59th
Street to the south, it unfolds on through the 90's to the north,
offering opportunity to shop at the famous boutiques of Madison
Avenue and to enjoy the chic, intimate restaurants throughout the
area. Fifth Avenue borders the area to the east giving easy access
to Central Park as an extended private playground. The western border
is defined by the East River with its beauty and breezes. Once home
to the city's wealthiest, the Upper East Side has a legacy of outstanding
architecture, creating an atmosphere of elegant gentility. Many
of the magnificent mansions of the past have been preserved and
continue to be privately owned, as are the many rows of stately
townhouses. Fifth Avenue offers a spectacular panorama of the most
beautiful pre-war co-op apartment buildings in the city as it stretches
northward to museum mile, the site of the Frick Collection, the
world renowned Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as the Guggenheim
Museum designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Public transportation offers
easy access to the Upper East Side by way of the Madison Avenue
bus lines and the Lexington Avenue subway.
Hell's
Kitchen (Clinton)
The expansive area from West 30th Street
to West 59th Street between Seventh Avenue and the Hudson River
is known by two names, one historic, one contemporary. While the
name Hell's Kitchen comes from this neighborhood's traditional reputation
as one of New York's toughest slums, in recent years the area has
been renamed Clinton in an attempt to make it more attractive for
investment and development. Many long-time residents, unhappy about
the wave of change sweeping the neighborhood, cling to the old name.
Originally farms and woodland, the area began to change after the
construction of rail lines along the Hudson River. As the city grew,
it was the location of slaughterhouses, warehouses, lumberyards,
factories, and the docks that lined the West Side of Manhattan.
Tenements teemed with Irish and other European immigrants and blacks
coming up from the south. In later years, Puerto Ricans moved into
the neighborhood. Its long-time status as a poor, working class
section made it fertile ground for gangs. The most famous, the "Westies",
served as enforcers for the Mafia, which controlled much of the
neighborhood from the time of Prohibition. Recently, with the television
industry based on the West Side and its close proximity to the theaters
of Broadway, the neighborhood has become home for hundreds of up-and-coming
actors, playwrights, musicians and others in the entertainment industry.
Now Ninth Avenue is one of the busiest streets in Manhattan, with
shops, bars and restaurants open well into the night. With the revitalization
of the Times Square area, and Chelsea's upsurge in value, Hell's
Kitchen, or Clinton, has become one of Manhattan's most sought-after
neighborhoods.
Turtle
Bay
Running from East 42nd Street to East 50th
Street, Lexington Avenue to the East River, the neighborhood is
near the United Nations, which stands on the shore of what was once
actually a bay. Turtle Bay is both commercial and residential in
makeup. High-rise office buildings are next to stately townhouses
and luxury residential towers. The United Nations replaced stench-filled
blocks of slaughterhouses and factories. Turtle Bay is also home
to two quiet New York enclaves, Beekman Place with its river-facing
townhouses, and Tudor City, with its classic pre-war towers that
sit above 42nd Street on the raised Tudor City Place.
Murray
Hill
Running from East 34th Street to East 42nd
Street between Park Avenue and the East River, Murray Hill is named
for a family that once held large tracts of land in the area. It
was the location of many of the wealthiest New Yorkers' summer homes
before the 20th century. After railroad tracks were moved underground,
the district saw an upsurge in development. Stately apartment buildings
rose along Park Avenue, and many of the side streets between 34th
and 42nd were filled with brownstones and townhouses. Now many of
these buildings are consulates and residences for United Nations
missions. Murray Hill is home to some of Manhattan's most luxurious
high-rises. Beginning with the construction of the Rivergate on
the east end of 34th Street, and continuing with buildings such
as the Corinthian, the Vanderbilt, the Highpoint and Manhattan Place,
Murray Hill again became a neighborhood for well-to-do New Yorkers
who wanted a peaceful section of Manhattan for themselves.
Kips
Bay
Covering East 24th to East 34th Streets
between Third Avenue and the East River, this neighborhood snuggly
sits just below Murray Hill. It was originally a small bay that
was filled in. Now Kips Bay is an important hub of medicine in the
city. The New York University Schools of Medicine and Dentistry
are here, and Bellevue Hospital and the Chief Medical Examiner's
Office are also along First Avenue. The neighborhood is home to
many of the staff and doctors affiliated with these facilities.
While many of the brownstones and townhouses that once lined the
streets are gone, there are still small pockets here and there.
Chelsea
A once, downtrodden neighborhood, Chelsea
is now one of the premier areas of Manhattan. Where it used to be
mainly Latino and African-American, Chelsea has become a major center
of gay and lesbian life in New York. In the late 1990's, as Soho
became more of a destination retail area, many of the art galleries
that once thrived there moved north to Chelsea, pushing the neighborhood
further west into what had long been strictly industrial and commercial
blocks. Many of the buildings have been converted into residential
and mixed use. The Chelsea Market Building, where the first Oreo
cookie was baked over 70 years ago, is now an important hub for
new media companies, including the Food Network and Oxygen Media.
The Chelsea Mercantile Building has been converted into condominium
lofts for the new media moguls and others who have flocked to the
neighborhood in recent years. While the main avenues and streets
in Chelsea now teem with people day and night, you can still find
quiet tree-lined streets of small apartment buildings and townhouses.
The Avenue of the Americas, or Sixth Avenue, has long been home
to weekend antique markets that used several of the long-vacant
lots along the avenue. Now several of these lots are being developed
into luxury residential buildings, adding to the area's reputation
as a trendy neighborhood to live in.
Gramercy
Park
Surrounding New York's only private park,
the Gramercy Park neighborhood has long been an enclave of tony
New York. Between 14th and to 23rd Streets, from Park Avenue South
to Third Avenue, Gramercy Park is a quiet community of townhouses
and apartment buildings. Several palatial buildings face the park,
which can only be used by those with keys who live on the streets
that directly border it. Some of these buildings have been turned
into homes for clubs like the Players and the National Arts. Irving
Place, which runs from 20th Street to 14th Street, was named after
the author Washington Irving, who once visited but never lived on
the street. Pete's Tavern, one of New York's venerable eating and
drinking establishments, is here, and nearby is Baruch College,
one of the City University schools.
Greenwich
Village
Now the residential section of the "Village"
area of Lower Manhattan, Greenwich Village is a neighborhood that
never stops evolving and renewing itself. As the center section
of the Village has become more commercial and touristy, this quiet
enclave of townhouses, brownstones, and mid-rise rental buildings
west of Sixth and Greenwich Avenues, has retained much of it's 1800's
feel. The area is no longer the exclusive hub of the gay community.
Many move here to raise families because the schools are some of
the city's best. While there has been some new development, quiet
tree-lined, brownstone-filled streets still dominate this neighborhood.
West
Village
While this area is located in the center
of the Village neighborhoods, it is referred to as the "West Village."
Greenwich Village proper is now thought of as being mainly west
of Sixth Avenue and Greenwich Avenue. A busy shopping district with
many quiet side streets as well as the major thoroughfares, it is
also home to some of the finest and oldest buildings and homes in
New York. Every turn can bring you to a place rich in the history
of the city. While new residential development is a rarity, there
are many classic condo and co-op buildings in the area.
East
Village
Once the home of bohemians, rebels and
avant-garde artists who left Greenwich Village as it became less
non-conformist, the East Village has boomed in recent years as a
community alive with professionals and students. From East Houston
Street to 14th Street, between Fourth Avenue and Lafayette Street
and the East River, the East Village attracts large numbers of visitors.
Where squatters, self-styled punks, hippies and bikers thrived for
decades before the 1990's, the neighborhood now includes a more
diverse range of residents. Loisaida and Alphabet City are still
used as nicknames, but after Tompkins Square Park, once the center
point of the New York punk scene of the late 70's and early 80's,
was restored, drug addicts and squatters started to leave. Through
the combined efforts of law enforcement and the community, the East
Village has shed much of its seedy reputation and has become home
to trendy shops, bars and restaurants. Several new residential buildings
have been built, including the first to be pre-wired for Internet
access (the Info Building at 3rd Street and Avenue A in 1996), and
others have been renovated to provide homes for an ever-growing
populace.
Noho
As Greenwich Village has fragmented into
smaller neighborhoods, the section below Washington Square Park,
between the Bowery and MacDougal Street, has become known as Noho
as in north of Houston. Like its southern cousin, the streets here
have filled up with fashionable boutiques, lively bars and clubs,
and restaurants featuring a wide range of cuisines. While many of
the buildings are residential, the area hums with an active nightlife.
Part of the New York University campus lies within the area. Where
once beatniks roamed and hippies danced, tourists now throng the
streets, taking in the ever-changing scene.
Soho
From West Houston to Canal Streets, between
Sixth Avenue and the Bowery, the area known as Soho -- south of
Houston -- has changed radically from the dark, drab streets of
the early 1980's. In the late 1700's, when the canal that gave Canal
Street its name was filled in, this area just north of Old New York
was developed as a residential neighborhood. Some of the original
townhouses and commercial buildings can still be found, tucked in
between modern structures. As the city grew and the large stores
that had lined lower Broadway near City Hall moved north along Broadway,
the area became home to retail and wholesale commerce. After its
commercial and industrial role faded, the area's many grand cast
iron buildings fell into disrepair. Artists began to move into the
area in the early 1970's, taking over abandoned lofts and buildings
and turning them into homes and galleries. Once home to a few cutting-edge
shops, huge artists' lofts and low-key bars, Soho now rivals Madison
Avenue as an upscale residential and retail neighborhood. Where
once people feared to walk at night, now celebrities and trend-setters
frequent the abundant bars and restaurants. Home to Dolce &
Gabbana, Armani, Sephora, Phat Farm, Stussy and many others, Soho
has become as much of a destination shopping district as Fifth Avenue
or Rodeo Drive. Small shops still fill the side streets to complement
the larger retailers. Once decaying cast iron buildings have been
reborn after years of neglect.
Tribeca
The "triangle below Canal" or Tribeca is
the area south of Canal Street, down to Barclay Street, between
Broadway and the Hudson River. Beginning in the early 1800's, this
area was the primary food and produce market for Manhattan. Many
of its grand buildings were warehouses for these businesses. When
much of the industry moved north to Hunts Point in the Bronx and
other areas in the 1970's, this district suffered for some time.
But in the 1980's, after it was renamed Tribeca, the area began
to experience a resurgence. Recently, many of the old warehouses
have been converted into luxury rental and loft condo buildings.
With these conversions, many of the new elite in New York -- from
Robert De Niro to the late John F. Kennedy Jr. --- began to settle
here.
Chinatown
While no one can precisely say where Chinatown
begins and ends, much of the area north and south of Canal Street
and east of West Broadway can be considered Chinatown. Home to well
over 200,000 Chinese- Americans, Chinatown in recent years has become
a destination for other immigrants from Asia. As Chinatown grew
from its small beginnings, it has come to incorporate parts of other
older New York neighborhoods, including Little Italy and the Lower
East Side. Today, the feel of Old New York is still palpable along
streets like Mott, Elizabeth, and Mulberry, where merchants sell
everything and anything. In a city of skyscrapers and luxury towers,
most buildings here are still low-rise tenements, which crowd the
streets and retain much of their turn-of-the-century feel. It's
a community that can seem worlds away from the rest of Manhattan.
Lower
East Side
Below East Houston Street, down to Canal
Street, from the Bowery to the East River, is the Lower East Side.
Once home to wave after wave of immigrants -- German, Irish, Italian,
Jewish, and later Latino, Vietnamese and Chinese, among others --
this very diverse neighborhood, is one of the few in Manhattan to
retain that "olde" New York flavor. Streets like Orchard, Ludlow,
Delancey and Allen are rich in history and flourishing anew.
Lower
Manhattan
The entire area of Manhattan below Chinatown
and Tribeca to the southern tip of the island is a hot real estate
market. As the boom has continued, developers have turned to this
area as the next great luxury residential community. Several office
buildings have been converted to residential use, adding to the
small number of residents who lived along the margins of the neighborhood
and at Battery Park City. With the conversions, an area that was
once quiet after the business day has taken on the appearance of
other vibrant neighborhoods in Manhattan, bustling with shops and
restaurants that cater to the growing fulltime population.
